Google: Good at Buzzwords
By So “Google-Buzz” was inflicted upon the Gmail-user community over the past 36 hours and is still the number 2 trending Twitter topic. Already Google has been accused of plagiarizing Twitter and Facebook, and of a stealth attack on Gmail users’ privacy.
Many of these concerns are well-placed, especially now that Google is in bed with the intelligence community. But my initial reaction is more pedestrian: why the heck would I want my Facebook in my Gmail account? One is for work, the other is for fun; I need to keep them separate or neither serves its function.
Sure, the trope is catchy. But Google needs better marketing researchers. The “buzz” I experienced when hit by the sensory overload that greeted me this morning was less like a vibrant global coffee-house than like an annoying, randy pair of flies in my office distracting and irritating me as I desperately tried to get some writing done. I waved goodbye to Google last fall when I realized that the Google-Wave app allowed people to see my thoughts as I typed them (wtf?), and I’m likely to buzz off in this case as well. Some things just don’t need to be imitated, and frankly Google doesn’t need to try that hard.
How do you find it so far?
P.S. By the way, if you’re wondering how to turn Buzz off once you’ve tried it, Google doesn’t make it easy but it is possible: go all the way down to the bottom of the page and look for a weeny little “turn off buzz” button.